Town Square

Pleasanton set to start negotiations tonight with employees union

Original post made
on Feb 19, 2013

The City Council will open negotiations with the Pleasanton City Employees Association (PCEA) at its meeting tonight in a move aimed at requiring unionized employees to contribute a greater percentage of their salaries toward their pension fund.

Posted by Julia
a resident of another community
on Feb 19, 2013 at 9:46 am

Don't make me laugh....The City Council will open negotiations with the PCEA...Forget negotiations and put your hands up and ask how much do you want...and give to them....you know darn well that is what you plan to do anyway.

negotiation should never be done by elected city council members. First of all they lack the ability and second of all they lack the guts...Oh and third, they are looking for votes and feathering their own nest.

So stop with the jokes....negotiate with the UNION don't make me laugh...all city council members are Amateurs trying to play in a big boys arena. Stick to approving a new signal at the corner of whatever.

Julia Pardini thank god from Alamo where we don't have to listen to naive council members.

Posted by lugnut
a resident of Amador Estates
on Feb 19, 2013 at 12:30 pm

The Council is not owned by the Unions but by the Chamber
These days. And most Business Owners belonging to the
Chamber live out of town. Narum and Thorne are bought
and paid for by the Chamber. The Unions got involved
With candidates to have communication. Past and present
Electeds were told that all we wanted was to have a say and
Then it was up to them to make decisions. Now it is all about
League of Cities and other agencies that don't know the local
"ground". You want low paid workers who actually fix things,
maintain things and protect you so be it. We all are old enough
To know that we get what we pay for. What employees have
Currently they negotiated fairly for, which meant the city got
What they wanted in the negotiations. Simple as that.

Posted by local
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 19, 2013 at 1:01 pm

You do not think our employees are paid enough????

The median salary for non-management was reported to be $85,000 during the pension discussions.

They can retire at age 55 with near 100% of their salary, guaranteed by the taxpayers with most of the pension payments paid for by the taxpayers.

They have full medical insurance FOR LIFE once they retire and they do not even pay a cent for that benefit.

They negotiated all of this but had the inside track by supporting council members (Hosterman, Kook-Callio, Pico, and others) which gave the the leg-up over the resident.

I will agree that the support from the chamber is just about as dangerous as support from the union. The unions lobby for the employees (no surprise; that is their job). The chamber lobbies for the developers in the area (mostly housing). The only time you see the chamber reps at a council meeting is when there is a development up for vote. The chamber CEO campaigned real hard to not have any hillside development restrictions and before he was at the chamber he was a direct lobbyist for the developers who wanted to develop on the main Pleasanton Ridge in the 90's. You will see his name on the ballot arguments against all hillside development restrictions that have been on the ballot.

I say cap tax payer money match at 5%. Let employees put in as much as they want up to current IRS cap for private sector. Time to bring public employee compensation (which includes benefits) in line with private industry. No life time health benefits unless they help pay. The elected official - buy votes via public employee compensation "negotiations" cannot be sustained in today's global market. Public employees cry about job cuts but could save coworkers jobs by accepting real world benefit compensation.

Posted by Freedom Espresso
a resident of Parkside
on Feb 19, 2013 at 9:45 pm

We need a situation where the public servants have to give back the money they've been promised. That sounds fair to me. I've worked over ten private sector jobs in my life, got fired from 6 of them, quit 2, and laid off from the rest. Right now I'm doing my best to contribute to the private sector by part-timing in the afternoons. I'm going to have to work for the rest of my life. If my wife should lose her job, I'm finished. That's why I'm for Miller. We need to spread the suffering around.

Posted by commie coffee
a resident of Birdland
on Feb 20, 2013 at 9:54 am

There's no money to 'give back' espresso. And the suffering is being spread around, since the taxpayers end up picking up the tab for your unearned benefits. But, we can't blame you personally, you are just a tool for your union leaders and the leftist politicians in bed with the unions to further their base of power. You'd never willingly backrupt the city or state to further your own cause, would you? Nah, you're part of the party of the people....

Posted by Freedom Espresso
a resident of Parkside
on Feb 20, 2013 at 10:21 am

That's exactly my point commie coffee. I'm simply a part-timer and don't end up paying much in taxes. I just like to gripe because, well, it's part of my nature and I don't know any ideology except that of hating others who have a job better than my own. But, seriously, how possibly can P-town millionaires be expected to suffer any more? Because the suffering is already spreading, and no one has suffered more than the residents of the wealthiest small town in America. Next thing you know, people are going to start calling them cheapskates. The nerve! I've seen it all. I've seen it all through the yellow windows of a passing train. We're broke! We're busted! Time for our public SERVANTS to do the right thing. Give back that which is owed to you.

Posted by simple solution
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 20, 2013 at 12:30 pm

We should do what Dublin does, contract out most city services. Goes out to bid.

The city can calculate the fully-burdened cost of our employees (salaries, insurance, pension (at the true actuarial cost, not the discounted rate we are paying now). Then go out to bid for the same services (maybe starting in planning, park maintenance or engineering). If the bids come in cheaper, hire that contractor and give notice to the current employees. I am sure the current employees would not be afraid of such an action since they keep telling the public that they are underpaid city workers. They must feel confident that the bids will not come in lower than their pay. If they don't feel confident, then they might want to work on adjusting their benefits now to get them in line with the private sector. This put the control in the employees hands..

simple solution wrote: "We should do what Dublin does, contract out most city services. Goes out to bid."

Yeah, and how is that working out? I'm not too familiar with Dublin but I haven't seen any local community with parks as nicely maintained as Pleasanton's. As any homeowner knows, giving out contracting work to the lowest bidder is usually not the best idea.

If you like how Dublin does business, then move to Dublin. It's right across the highway. No doubt you'll find something else to gripe about when you get there, though....

1. several Pleasanton schools being in "Program Improvement"
2. Pleasanton having a single aquatic center whereas Dublin has one already and is building a second one now (over in Emerald Glen Park)
3. Pleasanton high schools that don't open their pools to the public (the one next to the Dublin high school is open to the public)
4. a Pleasanton aquatic center that has hardly any night hours and is closed most of the time to the public because it has been taken over by private swim teams
5. Pleasanton city employees arrested for embezzlement, making harassing phone calls, drugs, and under investigation for providing confidential information to local divorce attorneys, etc.
6. a four term Pleasanton mayor famous for telling citizens who complained to just leave and put up with it or move out of town

1) "Several" meaning two? Dublin also has at least one school in "program improvement". San Ramon USD and Livermore USD also have schools in "program improvement". In short, it appears that virtually all the local school districts have schools in "program improvement" due to the stringent rules imposed by "No Child Left Behind". (Thank you former President G.W. Bush, the "education" President).

2&3&4). Sounds like you need to get your pool.

5). Guess it must be something in the air here just south of I-580? I'm sure that human nature magically changes as soon as you step north of I-580.

6). In the case of you and some others here, I echo the former mayor with a "ditto". Some people are just born complainers. Maybe the problem with you and Ptown-native is that you've spent too much of your lives in Pleasanton - you need to go out and see what the rest of the world is like.

Posted by simple solution
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 20, 2013 at 6:20 pm

The schools are completely separate from the city functions. City functions that can be contracted out:
- Park Maintenance
- Planning (what Pleasanton has now is a joke anyway. All these employees that really have nothing to do and just hang around until they reach retirement age. The employees in this department recommend all development as it gives them a purpose to go to work.)
- Building Inspections
- Janitorial Services
- Etc.

Dublin is not the only city that does this but is an example of a city nearby that does. I bet if we got bids that the total costs will be much more than a 20% savings (probably a lot more).

Right now the employees of the city control the city, not the residents.

Posted by Dublin
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 20, 2013 at 7:41 pm

Dublin has ZERO unfunded pension liabilty for their Police or Fire pension funds (they do NOT even have Police & Fire Pension funds), and also have ZERO unfunded liability for Police or Fire retiree medical benefits. The reason is they contract through the county. They pay their total cost annually.

Pleasanton has over 100 million in unfunded liability for pension and retiree medical benefits for the Police & Fire pensions, and the corresponding retiree medical benefits.

Posted by Anti-Union
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 21, 2013 at 12:03 am

Outsource as much as possible.
Unions have said they don't care about each other...Just push to the max and kill the golden goose. Personal greed first, last, and always, IF buddies get cut, OK, as long as I keep my job.
Us paying for medical for life is insane...just allowing them to keep group plan, should be sufficient! BUT they should pay their own premiums, period.
The most twisted and assinine is tolerating retirement at 55, in 2013, uncalled for. Just when they're at their peak, they bail, they we pay them fat retirements, plus paying their NEW hire...nowhere in the real world does that exist.
Miller has not secret for how to reach agreements.

Posted by sam the sham
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 21, 2013 at 9:18 am

Sam, you're implying (but not stating it outright) that somehow only union labor can maintain parks, etc. Until you can get past this failed line of thinking, thre's no point in trying to educate you further.
The additional overhead required to support union members, who spend more time leaning on a shovel than using it to dig, does not lead to a better result. Private contracting of services, if done correctly, will ensure that the job is done correctly (or you fire the firm contracted to complete the work) without the added social welfare that unions are all about.

Thanks for your frank admission that you are putting words in my mouth, sham. Too bad you didn't have the good sense to stop there and start over.

I said (quote) "I haven't seen any local community with parks as nicely maintained as Pleasanton's". True fact. That includes Dublin. I give our parks department an A+ for keeping our parks looking nice. Whether a contracted firm could do as well is an open question. Speaking for myself as a homeowner, if I have a contractor (e.g., heating/AC, plumber, etc.) who is doing an A+ job for me, I don't go rushing out to find another contractor even if it means saving a few dollars. But that's just me. You sound like you are the "go-with-the-lowest-bidder" type. (And I'll bet the condition of your house reflects that.) Good for you. Why don't you go find a city which better reflects your values?

If you don't like the way Pleasanton does things, then Dublin is a short move right across the freeway. You've got no excuse to stay here if you're really unhappy.

Posted by Ptown native
a resident of Stoneridge
on Feb 21, 2013 at 5:37 pm

SAM!!!! YOU MOVE! You're the one who moved
into 'hostile territory' and then you tell everyone
ELSE who has grown up here to leave! YOU LEAVE!
Where did you even come from? Why aren't
you still there? Was it not Caucasian enough for you?
Go own a home somewhere else where they like you.